dotCommonweal

All-Catholic VP debate livestream / viewing party / open thread.

You can watch a livestream of the debate below. If you want to follow along with the comment thread, I suggest opening this page in another tab, and reloading it regularly to keep up with the conversation.

One of the many Ryan kiddos I think. Now I'm off to pitch a HuffPo essay about how it's so interesting that Ryan's young family has not been a topic of discussion unlike certain other VP candidates with small children in years past.

Like an umpire, if the moderator makes a significant impression on you, she probably did not do a good job. She was too interested in calling attention to herself. Didn't have the confidence the job requires, which would have enabled her to be comfortable to let the candidates have the max time to present their views.

I would have liked more extensive debate on the growing drumbeat for military action against Iran. We are already in two very unpopular wars; one war was launched when a President wrongly told the American people that Iraq had WMD. We get there- oops, no WMD- but we stay for years fighting anyway. We waged war in Afghanistan ostensibly to catch bin laden, we''re still there even though bin Laden left years ago and when we did catch him it was in another country.I think those who want military action against Iran need to carefully explain to us, among other things, why it wouldn't be another phantom WMD debacle.

I didn't try to read and watch; I'm too old for that (though kudos to my friend Ann Olivier who is older than me and can do with aplomb!).Joe Biden is every dad in the neighborhood where I grew up (even though the guy's only 10 years older than me), so I love the guy, especially when he says "mallarkey," which is code for the more earthy verbiage I heard as a kid. I think Ryan dodged specifics when pressed (especially on Iranian bomb), and expects voters to trust in Romney's track record in Massachusetts (where he is losing) to work with a deeply divided and partisan Congress. His parsing the difference about leaving Afghanistant in 2014 was unintelligible.The question about both men's religion was unforgivable. Ask them about abortion if you want, but making Catholicism an issue made me want to jump through the TV and smack Martha. Why not ask Mitt if any of his policies will be driven by his expectation of inheriting a planet when he dies?In a more academic vein, pundits on PBS noted that Biden's passionate (blustery?) TV style fits an older generation better, while Ryan appeals to a digital audience with his cooler (reptilian?) style?I dunno. I'm not sure I can trust a guy who can't control his kids. It was his brat who was sitting in the VP chair smirking as if to say, "This chair belongs to MY Daddy."